With every miss-timed, misdirected pass, every transition basket given off a steal and every layup attempt her team rolled off the rim, Jen Quay kept repeating to herself, “It’s getting better.”

Quay, the Newport girls’ basketball coach tasked with nurturing a youth-filled roster, is seeing the results of her work, if not blossom, then, at least, start to sending up green-shoots of progress.

Even in losses like Line Mountain 62, Buffaloes 39.

On Jan. 26, Quay’s hustling, but undermanned, crew hosted the Eagles, the team tied with Greenwood atop the Tri-Valley League standings, and competed for the full 32 minutes before falling by 23 points. Five weeks ago, in their fifth game of the season, the Buffaloes had been embarrassed at Line Mountain, trailing 24-2 after one quarter and slinking out of Mandata on the wrong end of a 60-17 knockout.

“We had some good moments. I can’t be upset,” said Quay, whose team is stuck on four wins after dropping its fifth straight game. “Line Mountain is a good team, an experienced team. We hung with them.

“This was a major improvement from what happened up there.”

Despite turning the ball over on eight of their first 11 possessions, the Buffaloes got baskets from Katie Albright, Maddie Seiler, Erin Zeiders and Sadie Albright to surge into an 8-8 tie with 3:15 remaining in the first quarter. The surge, however, ended with turnovers on its last six possessions and Newport trailed the more consistent Eagles 19-8 at the first break.

“Line Mountain is a tough matchup for us. They pressure and trap on defense,” Quay explained. “We’re still having trouble handling the ball.”

Surprisingly, the Buffaloes didn’t wilt under the pressure. They did turn the ball over seven more times in the second quarter and had 38 — in 78 possessions — for the game, but matched the Eagles basket-for-basket until halftime.

Zeiders, a sophomore playing with increased confidence, scored six points and Britt Miller, the team’s most accomplished scorer, added two points on a fearless blast off the wing converted with an up-and-under finish and a free throw. Em Roush, who had six defensive rebounds and a pair of blocks to blunt Line Mountain’s inside game for a quarter, also scored to give the Buffaloes a 12-11 standoff that sent them to the locker room down 12 points.

“I was happy to go to halftime down 31-19,” Quay said. “That was more points than we scored up there.”

Despite moments of brilliance, the Buffaloes couldn’t sustain it for two more quarters.

Seiler threw in an off-balance jumper to start the third. Line Mountain answered with a pair of 3s. Miller, who finished with 11 points, then hit two free throws and drove for a layup to get her team to within 12. But the Eagles, a quick, get-it-up-the-floor outfit, ran off six straight points on breakaway layups, bumped their lead to 18 and were never really threatened the rest of the way.

“It’s a matter of wanting to get back on defense,” said Quay, pointing to Line Mountain’s 16-point, transition-game advantage.

Still, the Buffaloes chose to compete to the end.

Jen Campbell opened the fourth hitting a tough runner, Zeiders, who had a team-high 12 points, drove, drew a foul and converted two free throws then, on consecutive possessions, Seiler hit a foul-line shot, Campbell scored again and Miller cashed two free throws to get the Buffaloes to within 23 at the final buzzer.

“We don’t always make smart choices, but they never quit,” Quay said. “I have to give them credit for that.”

Larry YohnBritt Miller

Greenwood

Somebody was going to pay.

Upper Dauphin was the unfortunate chosen one.

On Jan. 24, the Trojans rolled into Millerstown for a TVL matchup with a Wildcat team still smarting from a 66-51 loss at Line Mountain four days previously.

Greenwood took out its frustrations quickly and completely. The Wildcats jumped to a 19-6 first-quarter lead, added seven points to its halftime advantage with a second 19-point quarter and cruised to a dominating 66-26 win.

Greenwood, which had lost three of its previous five games, went on to overpower East Juniata 50-34 later in the week, maintaining its tie with the Eagles for first place in the league. The Wildcats, who also beat visiting William Penn 45-34 on Jan. 29, are now 14-4 overall and 8-1 in the TVL with three league games remaining.

The ’Cats rode the scoring of their top three players to track down UDA and the Tigers.

Autumn Pellman, who made 12-of-20 shots and 6-of-7 from the line, went off on the Trojans for a career-high 30 points. Rumberger, who dropped in a 3, added 17, one off her season high, and Shaffer had five to give the trio 52 of their team’s points. Against E.J. Pellman (17 points), Rumberger (12 with three treys) and Shaffer (11 with two 3s) combined to furnish 80 percent of the scoring.

Pellman, who had 23 points in the win over William Penn, raised her career total to 1,468, seventh on the all-time county scoring list, 28 back of Sherri Mikus and 86 behind Angie Loy, who is fifth all-time. The Wildcats senior also pulled 10 rebounds to lift her program-best career total to 927.

Shaffer is also making a move up the school-records lists. The junior has 66 assists this season rolling her career total to 219, sixth all-time. Her 18 3s bring her career mark to 52, ninth all-time.

Rumberger leads the team with 23 3s driving her two-year total to 36, tied for 15th all-time.